You can't build a third and fourth line via free agency, because good bottom players get over paid on the market. These are players you have to develop, so it's going to take a couple of years to develop a true bottom six.

I agree to some extent, but I think it is certainly possible to making savvy UFA acquisitions who become solid bottom 6 players in your system. While that sounds similar, I don't think it is necessary to develop them from scratch (i.e. the draft), but it is necessary to recognize talent and potential that hasn't quite been realized.

A few examples would be Campbell and Paille in BOS, Stallberg in CHI, Chimera in WSH, Sobotka and Nichols in STL, Winnik in ANA, Stoll in LA, etc.